Never even gave this a thought or the time of day. Simply it's just easier to buy projectiles but, now with what is going on and the low stock on most supplies the thought is starting to make it's way in my head. Grant it we will probably be back to normal time soon. Maybe or maybe not but, it's the maybe not that has me thinking outside of the box. So on to my question what is involved equipment wise and mostly money wise to get started. Thanks in advance.

Greetings!  

Can you be more specific?  

Ie- rifle, pistol or shotgun?

What sort of ammo: Practice ammo, hunting ammo , or SHTF stockpile?

Here is a good place to start if looking into casting bullets:

Cast Boolits

Sorry, Pistol and rifle and SHTF.

I understand that with the correct equipment one can turn scrap lead and 22lr brass into jacketed .224 bullets.

Standard pistol calibers can just use cast lead, so can many mild loaded straightwalls or even powderpuff bottlenecks.

Apparently you can make mild loaded bottlenecks with powder coated bullets as well. Supposedly if done right they can even cycle a semiauto.

If you have a source for gas checks, or appropriately thin copper sheet to make them, you can push those cast bullets pretty hard.

That's a good one, too.

You can also make JHP pistol bullets from pistol cases and lead cores - 9mm, .40, 45cal.

During that last wide and deep drought, I almost did it.  It was going to cost BIG bucks, though, or I'd have done it.

Cast bullets work, too, waxed or powder coated (preferred).


The real hang up, bar none, is PRIMERS.  If primers end up unavailabe, you are out of luck.  There isn't any viable replacement.

Link to Corbins.com

There was an awesome thread on here with pictures and well done descriptions,... everything you could want except a friend standing next to you who shows you how.

I suppose with the correct springs one could use blackpowder in recoil operated guns. Since you can actually make BP at home, again with some tooling.

In this day and age I don't know where you'd get sufficient quantities of mercury to synthesize mercury fulminate. I don't know a damn thing about chemistry but if some priest could figure it out in the early 1800s, we can too.

Forming cups to make musket caps can't be too hard if you have a tool&die maker in your party.

I guess it would require modern(ish) machinery to make centerfire primers.

Can't spent primers be reloaded with fresh lead styphnate or mercury fulminate after hydraulically resizing/forming them?

Or... something we can do right now... group buy an ammo plant. Namely a primer facility, and powder mill, as in reality we could supply an army with the collective reloading tooling of arfcom. I know a couple of you guys have automated Dillon setups and can crank out like 3krds/hr.

i have been making them for 30 years. it is a hobby like anything else. it might be a necessity before to long. yes primers are the real
cant make at home item and that is why i have a lifetime supply in the storm shelter . also keep a flintlock and black powder that
i make if all else fails.

Dryflash, are you able to resurrect that bullet-making thread from the archive?  I bet the OP would benefit from seeing it.

Primers, like everything else, are currently available, at a price.  I just see them as the greatest vulnerability because of the difficulties involved in making them from raw materials.  

Imagine reloading primers -

Cleaning used primer
Resizing cup and anvils
Insert primer pellet
Seal

Making the primer compound is probably illegal, as it is a true explosive.  It would also be dangerous to even try without proper engineering controls in place.  I believe they rely on working with the compound while it is wet and less likely to detonate.

Places like Corbin sells lead wire which can be cut to length and used as the core for jacket bullets.

Photobucket doing what they did was the single biggest loss of internet information of which I am aware.  After that breach of trust, I would never pay them for anything, ever.  They did it with essentially no warning, too.

Losing that thread was a loss.  Let's hope that the days ahead to not force us all to recreate it.

Making  cast bullets, need free wheel weights/lead & linotype to harden rifle bullets. Need mold. LEE pot, Sizer like a Lyman 4500 &  H&I size die of the correct diameter. Nose punch to match bullet profile. A micrometer to check bullet diameters. Bullet lube can be bought or homemade.
The scrap ww needs cleaned & ingots made. The requires a large cast iron pot.  Flux is needed.  Requires lots of time.

Jacketed rifle bullets, very costly to start.  Google "Corbin swaging"